Professional Training of the Tatar Composers in the 1930s of the ХХ Century

Abstract

The problems of training composers of the national republics of the USSR came to the fore in the 1920s and 1930s of the XX century, when the accelerated formation of national professional cultures began. Professional training of national composers in the 1930s was largely undertaken by the capital higher educational institutions, in particular by the Moscow State Conservatory. It was during this period that the national studios and departments with composer groups were opened in it. This article highlights the process of teaching Tatar composers (S. Saydashev, M. Muzafarov, Dzh. Fayzi, F. Yaarullin, Z. Habibullin, etc.) in the Moscow Conservatory within the framework of the working faculty, ethnographic department, as well as the Tatar opera studio. We revealed the issues of educational tactics of the curator and teacher of the composer group G.I. Litinsky, who was looking for new, nationally oriented methods of teaching. We describe the creative problems encountered by both teachers and students. It is outlined the genre range of the composers creativity. The author of this article analyzes the positive and negative aspects of the educational process aimed at achieving academic level professionalism by the European composers.

When studying the problem posed, the author used a complex approach combining the features of historical and analytical methods of research, introduced new, documented facts into scientific circulation. The article is an attempt to build the fullest possible picture of the phenomenon as a basis for a broad scientific interpretation of musical education of national composers in the Soviet era.The materials of this article can be used in the training courses on the history of native and Tatar musical culture.

Introduction

The musical culture of the “young” national republics of the USSR was at the epicenter of the most complex transformations in the 1930s. In this period, the problem of professional training of national composers, just starting to master the major academic genres of the European tradition, is of independent scientific interest. The analysis of the training process of Tatar composers in the Tatar Opera Studio at the Moscow State Conservatory outlines all the difficulties faced by the teachers and students, which enable us to more deeply understand the problems of forming the composer schools of the national republics of the USSR.

The issues of musical education and enlightenment in the Republic of Tatarstan in the first half of the XX century have recently attracted the attention of scientists in the pages of various journals. There are such authors as N. Egorova, R. Samigullina, Z. Yavgildina [1], L. Faizrakhmanova, E. Kovrikova [2], S. Karkina, L. Fajzrahmanova [3], Y. Martynova, D. Martynov [4]. In addition, there is an active interest in the work of individual Tatar composers. There are such researchers as R. Khurmatullina, I. Salpykova [5], E. Kovrikova, N. Nurgayanova [6], A. Salihov, V. Dulat-Aleev [7]. The problems of forming professionalism of the composers of the Tatar musical culture and mastering the new genres of the European tradition are touched upon in the works of A. Maklygin [8, 9].

However, the issues of training Tatar composers have not yet become the object of a special in-depth study in the 1930s. In this article, the author makes an attempt to fill some “white spots” in the history of the Tatar musical culture. A historical retrospective on the problem of training composers, highlight of creative and methodological problems arising in the training process, will create the most complete picture of the musical education of national composers in the Soviet era.

The materials of this article can be used in the training courses on the history of native and Tatar musical culture.

Summary

Thus, a professional training of Tatar composers had a number of difficulties related to creative and methodological issues. However, they still achieved good results. Many works written in the studio are included in the “golden fund” of the national musical classics. Subsequently, the composers mastered different genres, improving their professional skills.

Acknowledgements

The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University.